The invention relates to a measuring apparatus, in particular a laboratory measuring instrument such as an analytical balance, which has means of setting values of parameters for performing specific measurement tasks, and/or for effecting communication with an operating person, and which has such sets of parameter values stored as profiles.
Measuring apparatuses of the type described are known in a great diversity of embodiments. Depending on the type of measurement, the complexity and accuracy of the apparatus, and the operating convenience offered, they differ mainly in the number of settable, and especially storable, parameter values. Storing sets of parameter values as user profiles is widespread, for example, in the PC world. On measuring apparatuses, however, the settings are of even greater significance: an inappropriate setting can distort the measurement result, or even destroy an instrument. For example, in a laboratory there are often many operating persons working at different tasks, all of whom need to use one laboratory balance. Normally, a balance can be adapted to the respective needs of an operating person by setting certain parameters, i.e. by entering a profile; examples of such settings are, for instance, the stabilization time and vibration filtering—which affect the accuracy of the measurement—the unit of measurement, and the language appearing on an alphanumeric display device. An embodiment of a balance of this type can be found, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,327, which provides a special operating field for entering specific settings before the actual weighing (column 2, lines 53-64), and which is hereby incorporated by reference.
However, even setting only the most important parameters is very time-consuming. For this reason, an operating person prefers to use a balance with its own preset profile. Also in this manner, setting errors can be better avoided. As a rule, high investment costs and extensive space requirements make it infeasible to provide in a laboratory a separate balance for each operating person, or for every frequently-used application. On the other hand, with the electronics available today, saving on one and the same balance different preset sets of parameters for different people or measuring tasks is possible without major additional outlay.
Activation of saved profiles by the operating person requires manual inputs, comprising as a rule depression of several touch keys in succession, which is also time-consuming and subject to error. Alternatively, there can be a large number of keys available, and a profile can be activated by depressing one single key. Although this can be faster, it can involve a large input device, the possible number of profiles can be limited by the number of keys, and the risk of depressing an incorrect key is also present.
The problem therefore presents itself of improving a measuring apparatus with stored user profiles in such manner that for each operating person and/or specific measuring task to be performed by them, the correct set of parameter values for them can be set rapidly and with great accuracy.